


The Case of the Punch & Judy Man

by Small_Hobbit



Series: Another Twelve Days of Christmas [12]
Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Gen, Twelfth Night - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 06:43:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9223553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit
Summary: In which we discover why the Ferret needed a cape and another activity which Dr Watson did not excel in.





	

“It doesn’t make sense, Holmes,” Inspector Lestrade said.  “Why go to all the trouble of setting himself up as a Punch and Judy man, just to steal mere trifles?  So far the only reports we’ve heard have been of the loss of minor items, things which have been clearly paste jewellery, and of no real value.”

“Precisely,” Sherlock Holmes replied.  “Items which could have been merely lost, or misplaced, and indeed, on one occasion disappeared from the children’s dressing up box.  Yet it cannot be mere coincidence our Punch and Judy man has been entertaining in those houses prior to the losses.  And therefore I have secured an invitation to the Twelfth Night party at Dorset House, where, in the earlier part of the evening, our man will once more be providing the entertainment.”

“And what do you want me to do?”

“Watson will, of course, be accompanying me, but I would be grateful if you could also join us.  I think it would be wisest if our potential thief is not aware of your presence, so if you were able to come round to the servants’ entrance I could let you in discretely.  I have not yet ruled out the possibility of involvement from someone within the house and therefore this seems the best course of action.”

Lestrade nodded.  “I’ll be there.  You seem to be remarkably well informed about the man.  I presume your source is reliable?”

“A little unconventional maybe, but I’m sure my source can be relied on.”

Lestrade departed, having agreed the time they would meet with Holmes.

As soon as he had gone, the Ferret chittered, “Of course I’m reliable.”

Dr Watson said reassuringly, “We know that.  But we could hardly tell the inspector we’ve been using a ferret to spy on the man, could we?”

The Ferret looked thoughtful, and then agreed.  For the past two weeks, whenever the Punch and Judy man had an engagement, the Ferret had been there too.  Wearing his arch-villain cloak and keeping out of the limited eye line of their suspect (the puppet theatre had been constructed in such a way that anyone operating the puppets was unable to see the ends of the stage, or higher), the Ferret had helped to entertain the children who were watching the show.

This was another reason for Holmes’ suspicions.  The puppeteer was not very good.  It was impossible to see how he could have so many engagements, unless another party was involved.  At least with the Ferret’s assistance the children enjoyed themselves.  The puppeteer seemed slightly surprised at how popular he was, but he never bothered to question why.

Meanwhile, Holmes was putting the final touches to his plan.  “It’s a good thing guests at this party are invited to wear fancy dress.  It means the Ocelot can go with you without anyone commenting on his presence.”

“Which costume are you expecting me to wear then?” Watson asked somewhat dubiously.

“The organ grinder one should be fine,” Holmes said, “but don’t worry, you won’t need to take the barrel organ.”

***

Twelfth Night arrived and Holmes and Watson joined the throng of guests at Dorset House.  After a while Holmes slipped off to let Inspector Lestrade in, leaving Watson to watch the puppet show.  Gradually, a group gathered in front of the puppet theatre.  Nothing happened, and the group started growing restless.

“We’ll have to do something to entertain people,” the Ocelot whispered.

“You are not thinking …” Watson began.

“If you operate Punch and Judy, I should be able to manage the policeman and the crocodile, and the Ferret can have a bigger role than normal and act as a sort of narrator since he’s the only one who knows the plot.”

Everything was going relatively smoothly – the Ferret had accidentally lassoed the policeman with the sausages, knocking his helmet off in the process, but everyone thought it was part of the story – until there was a small thud behind the scenes.

Mouselet (who had travelled in Watson’s pocket) squeaked, “The baby’s head’s fallen off and rolled away.  What are we going to do?”

Fortunately the baby wasn’t needed for the next scene, so Mouselet wriggled into the baby gown and pulled a spare mob cap over her head.  She clung on for dear life as Punch tried to wrestle her out of Judy’s hands.  But then disaster struck.  Dr Watson wasn’t very adept at handling the puppets (he was worse than the puppeteer) and he waved Punch and Judy around too vigorously so that Mouselet went flying.  Fortunately the Ferret caught her, which did nothing for his role as arch-villain, but established him in the minds of several small children as a true super-hero (even if they didn’t know what one was).

The Ocelot muttered “Quick, take a bow before anything else happens.”

Dr Watson accordingly said, “Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, for your kind attention.  I hope you have enjoyed yourselves.”

Everyone applauded and then went in search of refreshments.

As they departed Holmes came over.  “Well done troop,” he said.  “Very entertaining.”

“Have you caught him?” Watson asked.

“Oh yes, three of them were arrested and taken away about fifteen minutes ago.”

“What?  You could have let me know.”

“And stop your excellent performance?  Certainly not.  It’s a very long time since I enjoyed such entertainment on my birthday.”

Watson sighed.  “Holmes, you are incorrigible.”

 


End file.
